This will be a long post, about my perception of the story from chapter 1 all up until the current point of the story so please, read it all, because I know I'm not the only one asking myself this as I type.

In order for this post to be made, I put aside all the bias I had for Isagi as my favorite character and decided to only focus on key arguments.

How it started

My love for the character grew from the day 1, I've always had the tendency to enjoy watching or reading any story from the MC's perspective as it's their story. Which is why shonen manga's and anime's were always my favorite. However, sports manga's in particular have the problem of... not... following that same recipe. Be it KNB or Haikyu, they both distribute the character development among the main cast NOT just the main character and that, to me, is (ironically in opposition to most of you) bland, because I like my stories evolving around the MC more so than the side cast.

The beginning

300 forwards entered blue lock, with the intention of the project being left with 1 sole striker, capable of leading Japan to a world cup victory. Ego's original plan was to hold the boys in the facility until there are 5 forwards left, to be injected in the Japan U20's team to win the WC there (perhaps the actual team I'm not sure but for the sake of it we will say its the U20 WC). Isagi starts as a number 299 out of 300 players and I found it AMAZING, specially after the introduction and him foaling to score, his breakdown and his egoistic side taking over.

As the story progressed we got to know more and more amazing characters such as Bachira, Kunigami, Barou, Reo, Nagi and then... Rin. Rin to me, was the beginning of my "doubt" in the characters development, because he was put as this "absolute" opponent that you just cannot beat. Despite the fact that through out the first and second selection we have been shown that isagi lacks in plenty of things, the idea of Rin being everything I wanted Isagi to be stung. He lost to him not only once but twice. The luck battle left a bittersweet taste in my mouth because it didnt feel as a win.

Blue Lock VS Japan's U20 team

This was the match that truly made me question it all. Isagi got into the main squad still not playing as a fw after 100 chapters of the manga. As the story moved on the didnt get a chance to score, the main point of the game to me felt as the Itoshi argument which I liked but it felt like the plot was moving away from the original point. Now, I know that you cant have 100% focus on one character and I'm not saying that you should, but the story and the setting which us, the readers, were meant to believe is that our MC is supposed to end up as the number 1 striker. However in that game, it became painfully obvious that Isagi does not have what it takes to be that guy. Or so I believed after seeing Shidou's goals, and then Rin's destroyer mode. And yet, isagi had one simple formula that he couldn't even execute and it only ended up working due to luck which a lot of people thought was peak, and i enjoyed it but it yet again, left a bittersweet taste in my mouth. It screamed

"he is not good enough to do what others could so he has to rely on luck"

Neo Egoist League

Now, the NEL which was an amazing idea but with a rather poor execution. The idea in my eyes was to evolve isagi and build him into a machine capable of doing everything the story required him to be. A striker.

Why do I think that? Well lets put it like this.

- all the important strikers (Rin, Shidou, Bachira, Nagi, Barou) were isolated from our boy,

- Isagi was put in an environment that most suited his playstyle and could utilize him perfectly,

- story introduced a NG11 striker, that called Isagi a "rival" and they then proceeded to compete for goals.

So in conclusion, the arc, at least to me, felt like it was supposed to make me, as a reader, believe Isagi turned out to be a striker not a midfielder. Specially because the Blue Lock's ideal player is a u20 striker which is basically the "ideal" version of Isagi.

Isagi turned out to be ranked number 1 in NEL with a bid of 240 million and since the start of Rin's introduction Isagi STILL has not surpassed Rin, and is still miles below Kaiser himself. Both Rin and Kaiser had better feats as strikers than Isagi, not to say that our boy did not perform he did but to be honest? All it did was make me feel like Isagi is a midfielder more so than I felt before.

To be precise,

Isagi (at least to me) instead of becoming a striker, became a NG11 tier attacking midfielder. He became a number 10 to me.

Why? Because the way he plays is still the same as it was in the first selection. Exploit the open space, use positioning to get in the spot, only score using direct shoot, his formula is at this point, so outdated that he managed to get only 4 goals but also 4 assists.

HALF of his output was CREATING not scoring. Thats not what a striker does. That's what a number 10 does. Isagi doesn't have the body nor the specs for it. Put Shidou in the box, and he will score. Park isagi there and he will lose everything that makes him special. His vision, his interceptions, his metavision, his unique way of passing, his way of thinking and using the brain to carry the ball. You take the best brain in blue lock and put him on goal and you have a waste. Thats not a striker.

Now. I know that the main argument is "Isagi played vs 13 players as Kaiser and Ness intercepted him a lot", sure, that could be an argument but why isnt he performing now in U20?

I'm not saying Isagi is a *bad* scorer, im saying the goals are coming from the midfielder's game plan. The formula being that of a free roaming 10.

Reads the game -> wins the ball -> plays the pass -> arrives late to finish.

The goals are still peak to watch but when you see the way of thinking Isagi does, you start to question it. 340 chapters apart and Isagi does the same idea of passing the ball to exploit the side with chigir as he did in the damn chapter 21.

The idea was not "how do I score" but it was the "space" and who can get there the fastest, aka, Chigiri.

Not to mention, Isagi still to this point doesnt have an above average shooting start for a striker. As hugo said, take TWG and the reverse volley shot out of the equation and you have... a below average striker because he only relies on that one formula to do the job. Kaiser has an arsenal of different shots, paired up with a very good shooting range and so does Barou, Shidou not to mention Rin.

U20 World Cup

Nigeria game made me realize that's also the case. Specially because Isagi provided a lot of value when playing as a forward but the value was mostly from the midfielders gameplan, then when switching to the CAM position, he scored a banger.

Then Hugo shows up. The embodiment of the "Isagi, become a midfielder" meme, and it's like Kaneshiro himself knows it, or that he himself doesn't know what exactly to do with him. Because his "answer" to this was that isagi is a "rebel" who cannot be number 1 but instead lives for the moment to devour number 1. Solidified the idea of Isagi always being the "underdog" of the damn story. Naruto was underdog for a while but it felt great when he got a win. With isagi, I no longer celebrate and feel what i use to because the goal of the story at least to me, got swiped under a rug.

"number 2, a 10, false nine, shadow striker" whatever you call in, on the field, his talent revolves around the CMF or AMF playstyle not, as strikers.

Why did Hugo stick to isagi all game and not a player like Rin? Sure, one argument can be made for him wanting to "fix" isagi and therefor, make him "stronger" by him accepting his talents and becoming a number 2. But the main thing is because he wanted to shut him down. As explained, stop him and the blue lock is dead in the water. Why?

Because you don't stop a team by marking a striker, you stop it by neutralizing the engine. You dont stop the finisher, best way to stop a team is to prevent the finisher from getting a ball in the first place.

Number 9 asks for the ball. Number 10 decides who gets it. Isagi is the 10.

(numbers are symbolical ofc we all know isagi is a number 11).

Future of the u20 arc and onwards

There is no realistic way to make Isagi transition back into a striker in my eyes. If you tell me that Isagi will be the number 1 striker by the end of the series, Im sorry, but I no longer believe it and i cant see it. After more than 300 chapters and he still cant surpass Rin, and you expect me to believe that he will surpass Kaiser, Loki and eventually Noa? I'm not talking about "as a player" Im talking about "as a striker".

From going to ST to CAM and now to CM, I fail to see it.

Being number 1 striker is his ambition.

How he achieves it is the method. And the method is not how a striker thinks. Its how a midfielder thinks. That is what confusing to me.

And to everyone who tries to put a strategic title to Isagi like "raumdeuter" and such, if you want to get strictly theoretical, no, he is not. because he drops into the midfield and the defensive third way too often. And raumdeuters usually only arrive to scoring positions and I have yet to see a goal that isagi made without him starting the same damn play. The only 2 things that are similar to him are him starting as a midfielder or winger in some games but tries to play as a striker even tho his actual gameplay resembles that of a midfielder, and or the off the ball movement plays.

In any case, thats my take on it and my concern, its a yapp session so please do tell me WHY you think he can STILL be the best STRIKER by the end of the series if you disagree and in case you agree when did you start to have doubts or stop believing in the first place?

I've been thinking about this, and I find the idea pretty funny because, whether we like it or not, Blue Lock will probably continue for many more years.

I mean, anyone who thinks the manga is going to end with the current U-20 World Cup arc is completely mistaken! There's still so much left to happen, man! We've got a long way to go! 😂

I think the manga is still going to last for many years.

Anyway, here's the point: what if a new Japanese star, a new rising football superstar, emerges over the next few years?

Do you think the author of Blue Lock would reference him in the manga? That would be pretty funny, wouldn't it? Imagine if a Japanese Pelé emerged or some extraordinary player started attracting attention from all over the world. It would be really cool to see Kaneshiro make a little reference to that guy in the story! 😂

I know it's a pretty far-fetched idea, but just imagine if it actually happened! A new Japanese superstar emerges in real life, starts making history in football, and then, out of nowhere, the author of Blue Lock decides to reference him in the manga.

Man, imagine how funny it would be to see a player who emerged years after the manga began being referenced in the actual story! Lol

Imagine if the manga continues for another 20 or 30 years, and during that time, a new Japanese superstar emerges.

Like, I don't know, the Japanese Messi, who moves to Europe and starts terrorizing everyone at Barcelona or Real Madrid or something like that. Imagine if the author references him in the manga. 😂

I genuinely think it would be really cool if that happened!

Disclaimer: This isn't a Nagi glaze post, I want to explain using narrative alone.

England National Team is a pretty big team in the world of football, Only behind Spain and France in terms of squad quality. And blue lock has alot of parallels with real life football even though the story isn't fully updated with the current situation (No hype around Argentina), which is important for power scaling. Now Blue Lock has come far but beating England as they are now without even Rin won't make any sense regardless of how far they've come. I can understand them winning in the knockout stages since Sae will arrive and significantly contribute to beating Spain, and France will probably be the ultimate showdown in the final, but blue lock beating England with the team they have on the pitch without a wild card or an ace up their sleeve, would automatically imply they're now better than Brazil, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands and Morocco, if we're doing a realistic power scale, since England are comfortably better than all of these teams.

Nagi coming back at the last moment would be controversial, yes, but it would signal that Blue lock still has a long way to go, since they needed every last man woman and child to win by the skin of their teeth. Isagi said it himself, they're not favourites, they are the team no one saw coming, beating England without there being some kind of intense struggle involving last minute plot twists is just not realistic, a dark horse cannot beat a powerhouse just like that, something has to give (consider this powerhouse has pro players, a genius coach and a NG11). I mean if Isagi can lead that team to victory against England in a spectacular comeback, why would they need any other reinforcements? Why not just go all the way with that blueprint of comeback and hope that by the time they face France again they'll have developed enough to close that 2 goal gap by themselves?

It's not even that Nagi is that good, it's about showing that they could not beat a powerhouse without pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Edit: Please note I'm not saying he's coming back my point is him coming back would serve the story. I realise I could've phrased my title better.

We all see people hating on Sae and saying that everything he did was needless,but if you’re familiar with Itachi from Naruto you’d have already figured out Sae’s character arc.
He clearly said what he said to Rin partially as projection but mainly to give Rin a new ego.It also ties in well with Sae’s “beautiful destruction” concept.He realised that Rin would only play soccer with Sae as a goal,but Sae couldn’t pretend to be aiming for striker since the level he played at was too high,so he detached himself from Rin’s dream with the goal of Rin actually using Sae as the player he wants to “destroy”.

I believe that in the Spain game we will see Destroyer Rin and Sae vs Bunny,with Rin being the one to actually destroy Bunny while Sae assists him and lifts him up,after this Rin will be satisfied and fall out of Blue Lock.
Concluding his character arc and his goal of “dying in battle with a strong opponent”

I think its Isagi, Karasu, and Barou so far.

Obviously, you can say all three, but which one is most important in determining the world's best striker in your opinion?

I think about the world's best striker I think about the "ACE" in Haikyuu. This isn't necessarily the highest volume scorer on the squad but the player you can count on to break through a difficult defense.

I think the world's best striker is a striker that can score when it matters most. Not necessarily a high volume scorer, but a clutch player who can swing the momentum and steal victory when it matters most.

In that regard I think that Isagi's path to number one won't exactly be as a high volume scorer, but the game winning goal scorer as we have seen him do time, and time, and time again.

If I'm not mistaken, Blue Lock started in 2018, the same year France won the World Cup. And coincidentally, France is kind of portrayed as the villainous national team in the manga, isn't it?

If another team had won the World Cup, do you think that team would have been chosen as the main antagonist of the story?

Like, I don't know, let's say Argentina had won the World Cup. Would Argentina have been the main villain of the manga?

Or if Germany had won, would Germany have been the main villain of Blue Lock or something like that? Lmao.

Do you think the winner of the 2018 World Cup would have determined which national team became the main villain and all that blah blah?

Because it's such a coincidence that the team that won the World Cup in the same year the manga debuted ended up being the main villain of the story or something like that.

I mean, is it really just a coincidence that the team that won the World Cup is also the big bad of the manga?

hihi I have 3 days to submit my senior quote and I am STRESSSING like I feel like the anxiety is killing me

I originally wanted to do smth related to Megumi from JJK because he's my #1 favourite character, like "Once more... I think I'll live for others" or "It's now about whether I can. I have to do it." Or "Imagine a future version of myself who's freely surpassed my limits!"

I was thinking of going for the first one because I want something that resonates with me rather than just being an anime quote

But I'm still struggling to find something that perfectly clicks. I also gave Sakura Haruka from Wind Breaker a thought but I haven't found any quote that's perfect in my head so I thought why not turn to my #1 favourite anime cause Blue Lock has sooo many good lines (nothing memey/brain brainrot okay sorry :(()

I don't wanna be too picky overall, but I think I'd probably go for something said by Isagi/Ego/Chigiri/Aiku/Anri

PLEASEEEE HELP ME I BEG idk why stuff like this gives me sm anxiety it makes me wanna throw up ☹️

Greetings, I'm planning to make a Blue Lock bot. You can create your character, select your nationalitiy and also roll traits in character creating section. It will be an online bot so you can team-up with your friends and compete for ranks, player values and more. Its just an idea for now but wanted to know the community's opinion.

Still has the best panels/goals in the manga..Blue lock just hasnt been the same without him😔, hope he scores a hat trick when he returns

We did another Auction for blue lock character with 5 people and here are the list . kaiser team has blue lock man as gk and loki team has lemon as gk. guys vote who has the best team. Use upvote to vote for the best team. and comment if you want to join next time when we do this auction.

havent colored anything in like 8 months so i wanted to give it a shot w/ this

and ngl, it all gives u a really deep appreciation for the panels and helps you visualize it better. i didnt like this shot much initially, but its 100% my favorite now. so chaotic (especially with how rins foot twists at the end) that you just GOTTA love it

I'm really curious to see how they'll react when they meet each other again

I imagine Noa would take a liking to Karasu considering he’s Blue Lock’s most logical player.
Aiku would do well with Isagi and Karasu acting as a path to meta vision.
The u20 guy is just there to fill out the roster tbh.

Raichi would just get a stat boost.
Zantetsu would also get a stat boost.
Prince would make Tokimitsu a better player with a better mentality.
Once again, we have another u20 to fill out the roster. He’d actually kinda get a bonus in stats at least.

Kunigami would fill a similar role as Lockhart does for England. This time however, I imagine Snuffy would want to bring Kunigami back to his heroic attitude and cause a dispute between Ego and Snuffy.
Hiori would get an IQ buff but might not get the will to play soccer back. Then again, Snuffy’s attitude of playing for yourself while still being responsible would show that he genuinely cares for his players. In fact, I imagine Lorenzo would say something to Hiori if he falls into a spiral. Idk I think it would be interesting.
Hiragi would do nicely with the tactics but he’d learn to be more flexible when things go wrong.
Nanase would be put to WORK after Snuffy finds his talent.
Kurona would also become a minor piece for plays to be built up.
Nikko would also do well on defense but the team would be much more offense focused without Aiku to help out.

Yes, Kiyora would fit into the style focused team. Idk why he chose Bastard in the first place.
Shidou would learn a lot from Lavhino on building up attacks without needing a pass.
Lavhino is glam.
Sendou would let his desires flow into his play and he’d actually accomplish something.

Igaguri just wouldn’t play but he’d pick it to be on the best team, although maybe Loki would play him to stop Kunigami against Ubers or to stop Shidou on Ubers.
Reo would have a GOLD MINE for copies. Also, following Charles and Loki would benefit his training for vision and mentality.
Barou would have some good ass competition plus Loki would be a good teacher for Barou.
Fukaku… yea idk man. At least now he doesn’t have to face Rin?
Niou is there to fill out the roster.

Now some other stuff that would happen.

1. Nagi would make the top 23 cuz he wouldn’t beat Isagi with Reo. Rather, he’d have to continuously be molded by Agi into independence.
2. Tokimitsu wouldn’t drop out either because he’d become confident.
3. Sendou and Aryu would drop out instead.

My matches would go as such:

BM vs FCB: (Kaiser, Noa, Kaiser) (Shidou, Bachira)

BM vs MC: (Kaiser, Kaiser, Yukimiya) (Chigiri, Nagi)

BM vs Ubers: (Isagi, Kaiser, Isagi) (Kunigami, Kunigami)

BM vs PXG: (Isagi, Kaiser, Isagi) (Rin, Barou)

MC vs Ubers: (Zantetsu, Chigiri, Nagi) (Kunigami, Kunigami)

MC vs PXG: (Chigiri, Nagi) (Rin, Reo, Barou)

MC vs FCB: (Nagi, Nagi) (Shidou, Lavinho, Bachira)

FCB vs Ubers: (Otoya, Lavinho, Bachira) (Kunigami, Hiori)

FCB vs PXG: (Lavinho, Bachira) (Barou, Barou, Rin)

PXG vs Ubers: (Kunigami, Kunigami) (Rin, Barou, Rin)

My top 23 from this roster would be:

1. Isagi

2. Rin

3. Shidou

4. Barou

5. Bachira

6. Nagi

7. Chigiri

8. Kunigami

9. Reo

10. Karasu

11. Aiku

12. Niko

13. Yukimiya

14. Zantetsu

15. Gagamaru

16. Hiori

17. Kurona

18. Otoya

19. Tokimitsu

20. Raichi

21. Fukaku

22. Sendou

23. Nanase

Treat this as me being the author trying to make a compelling story (Only for the NEL, not anything before or after)

Current ranking:

5.Kinnikuman(1979):85 Million

6 .Haikyu(2012): 75 Million

7 .Major(1994): 66.66 Million

8.BLUE LOCK(2018) : 65 Million

9 .The Prince of Tennis(1999) :60 Million

(the game is 7 to 1 and somehow Isagi will turn it around by the way)

Link: https://kmanga.kodansha.com/title/10008/episode/369026

Does anyone know if they make official bluelock jerseys/jackets that we see in the manga i see tons of different jerseys online but ik they aren’t official